News

On this day - July 20, 2004

Three men fled with tens of thousands of pounds after forcing staff at the Waitrose supermarket, Buckhurst Hill, to lie on the floor.

The men armed with a crowbar and either a baton or baseball bat forced a woman member of staff who was outside the store back into the Queens Road supermarket shortly after 8pm last Tuesday.

The woman along with two other employees a man and a woman and a male visitor to the store, which was closed to the public at the time, were forced to lie on the floor.

The raiders grabbed the money and ran off, towards the station. The men were wearing fluorescent jackets with the letters AMEC or ADEC on the back, and were carrying grey security bags contaning the money.

A police spokesman said: "It would have been a very traumatic ordeal for the staff involved. There is the possiblity that having got on the Central Line they got off at Woodford. We would like to hear from anyone who was in the area at the time, or who was using the stations, who may have seen the men."

The men were white, 5ft 10ins to 6ft 2ins tall and aged between 25 and 35.